Observations, from the INFLUX of cases of murder of their loved ones who needed long-term care! Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…
The recurrence of tragedies in long-term care, the head of NTU Health Policy and Management Graduate School, Professor Chang stated, that the pressures on those who are bedridden long-term along with those who cared for them is unimaginable to the laypersons, the elderly’s psychological health can’t be put off, other than the relatives, the neighbors showing care and concern for those elderly caretakers, the government should also, step in, to provide more psychological services to the elderly populations.
Chang said, this was NOT the first case of long-term care tragedy, other than the cared for, the pressures are more enormous on the caretakers, as the caretakers saw the elder becoming immobilized, ill, or even unable to control their bodily functions, other than feeling the heartaches, and if they have that feeling of “I love her too much to keep watching her suffer”, plus with no one else offering the psychological supports, then, tragedies can easily occur.
a complete system of care should include
The clinical psychologist, Lin said, that as the caretakers saw their loved ones being intubated, fed through a feeding tube, becoming immobilized, couldn’t express oneself, to being restrained, on a ton of medications, even becoming incontinent, needing to be in diapers, having the bedsores, it would break the caretakers’ hearts, and worried, that if this was, what’s coming in their own, elderly years, and who will be there, to care for them?
“Faith, and the breather is too important!”, Lin stated, all the religions are all against taking one’s own life, and if the caretakers can use faith, to find support that they needed from the religious gatherings, the friends, knowing that life has its, meanings, it would certainly help. And, the government should offer more breather program services, so the caretakers can see the light.
The director of the Chiayi Government Hospital, Huang said, the population is aging too quickly in Taiwan, and the government offers various forms of assistance to those who became incapable of caring for themselves, to over eighty-percent of the total costs, but a lot of people aren’t aware enough of these services, don’t know how to file for these services, that the government needed to advocate the availabilities of these services to the public, so the caretakers will be willing to, and know how to use the assistances offered by the government.
Chang suggested, that the staff members at the long-term care facilities, the neighbors, the community development associations should be active in showing care and concern toward the primary caretakers, to see if they’re under pressure, if there’s help needed, so they can, report it to the authorities sooner; and the family members should offer each other support, for instance, taking turns caring for the elder, splitting up the costs of care, to reduce the strains on one primary caretaker; and other than increasing the locations of the long-term care facilities, offering the breather programs, setting up a social security net also should including caring for the psychological wellbeing of the elders.
And yeah, this is all, TOO idealistic, and, the government is doing ALL that they could to offer these services, but just like the previous reports told, the families can see the resources, but they can’t, tap into the system, to get what they needed, which is why this program only works, IN theory, but, not in application, and, there’s NO way this will change, NOT short-term, at least, but, the population is still, aging too quickly, and, if the government doesn’t develop a system that works, then, this sort of a tragedy will just keep on, reoccurring, and, there’s just NO right answer, on HOW we can handle this problem of long-term care effectively here!